Sports ramblings…with a Yankees bias!

Results tagged ‘ Kei Igawa ’

In Damon’s first appearance against his ex-mates, he hit an RBI single and a solo home run to power the Tigers to victory, 6-2, in Lakeland, Florida.Hopefully, this doesn’t become a regular occurrence in Yankees-Tigers matchups.Two of the hopefuls for the fifth spot in the starting rotation were the victims of Damon’s abuse.Chad Gaudin and Sergio Mitre each gave up three earned runs in three and four innings of work, respectively.Austin Jackson even got in on the action with some great defensive plays.

Gene J. Puskar/AP

On the bright side, the Yankees also played the Baltimore Orioles in Tampa and won 5-3 behind the heroics of Jorge Posada.Javier Vazquez was the starter and winner, but Alfredo Aceves continued to impress.So, if Phil Hughes has competition for the starting rotation, I’d have to say that Aceves is the top contender at this point.I am convinced that Joba Chamberlain is headed to the pen, and either Mitre or Gaudin (or both) will find themselves pitching elsewhere.

Gene J. Puskar/AP

Kei Igawa, perhaps the Yankees most disappointing free-agent signing in recent memory outside of anyone named Carl, saw his latest attempt to make the Yankees flame out.He was one of nine players cut and re-assigned to minor league camp.The other notable name, but not unexpected, was pitcher Andrew Brackman.The odds have definitely been against Brackman but I hope he can persevere and pitch in the big leagues one day.

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As a Minnesota Vikings fan, this has been a disappointing off-season so far.Of course, there’s the inevitable ‘will he or won’t he’ retirement talk about Brett Favre.If Favre does retire, it’s hard to get excited about the team’s offense being helmed by either Tavaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels.We’ve already seen a great running back depart when Chester Taylor signed with the rival Chicago Bears.The team wined and dined free agent LaDainian Tomlinson, but he left Minnesota for New York with no agreement.Nothing against Minneapolis, but it’s hard to compete with the city of New York.There’s no telling where LT will eventually land, but he would be a nice backup for Adrian Peterson.So far, the Vikings biggest acquisition has been the free agent signing of long kicker Rhys Lloyd.Hopefully, the Vikings will be able to make the necessary moves to ensure that their current championship quality window does not close without any hardware.

Peter Read Miller/SI

This has been an interesting year on American Idol.I have seen most of my early favorites depart, so I’ve had to find new ones to back.At this point, I am a fan of Crystal Bowersox and Lee Dewyze.I am surprised at some of those who advanced to the Top 12 and some who didn’t, but the show should start heating up in the coming weeks.

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I am headed down to Burbank to see The Tonight Show with Jay Leno this week.The scheduled guests are Terry Bradshaw and Kara DioGuardi. The musical guest is Ziggy Marley.It should be a fun and energetic show to watch.I am looking forward to it.I was able to see The Late Show with David Letterman last year, so it will be fun to see how it compares to Leno.Of course, from my perspective, I can’t wait until Conan O’Brien is back on the air…

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